auge
is wider in Victoria than on the New South Wales lines. After
entering Victoria, the line passes through what is called the "Kelly
Country," where the famous bushrangers, Kelly and his associates,
committed their outrages some years ago. In a very short time Sydney
will be connected by rail with Brisbane, and there will then be a
continuous line from Adelaide through Melbourne and Sydney to
Brisbane, a distance of not less than 1,600 miles. This will no
doubt much increase the importance of Adelaide, because many people
will be glad to land from a steamer as soon as possible. A few days
after arrival at Melbourne, I returned by P. and O. steamer to
England, and as I am not prepared to inflict on any one an account
of so hackneyed a voyage, I finish at this point.

In ancient times colonists were sent out by Phoenicians or Greeks
(the Roman colonies were for military and political purposes) among
people who to them were barbarians (which, after all, only means
people speaking a foreign tongue) but who might be only a little
inferior to themselves in civilization. A Greek colony, for
instance, settled among the Egyptians, by whom the Greeks themselves
were accounted barbarians. The colonists to America from England two
and a half centuries ago, had to contend with somewhat similar
difficulties as the first colonists of Australia, but they had not
so many modern appliances. The Australian Colonies are particularly
interesting, because they exhibit people of an ancient civilization
and fixed customs thrown into contact with the elemental conditions
of life. They had to start at the very beginning, and that, too,
with an overplus of criminal population. Their success hitherto is a
testimony to the inherent vitality and tenacity of the English race,
and to sneer at them as if they were children, or to patronize them,
is not merely bad taste, but shows an utter ignorance of the facts.
In many things they have begun where we left off. They have had the
advantage of our experience, and in many things we may profitably
learn from them. For instance, when we hear much airy talk of the
nationalization of the land in England and other equally fundamental
questions for a country to have to consider, it would be well to
study the problem in Australia, where the greatest landlord is the
State. Amid the conflict of forces which make up the struggle of
life, it is not much use talking about rights and duties until the
actual force